South Tarawa is the capital island of the Republic of Kiribati and where all government services are headquartered, including the central hospital, international airport and seaport, main secondary and tertiary educational institutes, and major business communities. South Tarawa, including Betio Islet host more than half of the Kiribati population. South Tarawa boasts of a rich fisheries resource in the Tarawa Lagoon, and much of the eastern corner of South Tarawa lagoon is heavily populated by mangroves. Coastal erosion and accretion, land-based pollution and the deterioration of mangroves, seagrass beds, the lagoon flats and the decline in lagoon fisheries and shellfish are the main challenges this area is facing.
To address the above threats, the GEF SGP Kiribati will support at least 10 local CBOs' activities in this area by using both community seascape and landscape conservation approaches through promotion of sustainable fishing, development of mangrove integrated ecological aquaculture and other alternative livelihood activities with local communities. 10 lagoon side local communities, will be targeted and helped to construct community septic toilets to prevent defecation on the beaches and enhance community capacity to develop sustainable land management practices using climate-smart agroecology technologies to control land based pollution and improve the communities resilience to climate change.